the meerkat family saga
by aspell
Summary: this is a story of digger the meerkat. based on the documentary 'a meerkat family saga' it is a real life story of a rapidly vanishing family but mostly about digger. and his will to survive in the harsh kalahari desert of south africa.
1. Chapter 1

MEERKAT SAGA

well to start off, this is a chapter story i wrote after watching the documentary 'a meerkat family saga.' slot of the story lines are based on the documentary and the characters are too. i just want to note that the meerkat family saga is not copyright me. as for a little info on meerkats so you can understand the story better, meerkats live in the kalahari desert, south africa. they are knee high. the babies are called pups and this is a tragic story. i do warn that you may cry because it is filled with drama, devtion and loss. it is my frist story, so please reveiw nicely! thanks!

chapter 1: The saga begins

Digger had dug yet another great hole in the sand. The sides around it caved in but with another mighty shovel of his claws, he sent it all back, over the top of his sister, Grace. He had shovelled through the dry sand and fortunately found a scorpion burrow. With a snap of his jaws, scooped it up and ate greedily. Mother and father had proudly observed the area, making sure no rival meerkats charted their patch of land. Digger's family of over 20 dug with complete confidence. Mother had soon dropped to all fours and ravenously dug in the sands, to luckily find a giant millipede. Mother was late in pregnancy and was son to give birth. Grace and Digger played around a little before getting back to hunting. "Grace stop it, you're acting like a pup," Digger giggled, nudging his younger sister gently. "Oh, come on, Digs. I was only playin' around," Grace pleaded as Digger carried on with what comes best, digging. "I know you were," Digger joked, pouncing on Grace after lifting his head from his duty.

Mother crouched in agony. She was to give birth soon and so the family had to leave their day's foraging and head for home, father leading the way.

Like always, Digger and Grace strode behind, nipping each other playfully. "I wish life would always be like this," Digger laughed, running ahead. "Young, restless, happy. Yeah, life can be sweet."

By midnight, mother had given birth to a young, blind litter of 4 hairless pups that were less than 30grams and were about the size of your thumb. Father and mother nose nudged proudly as the group slept soundly around them. The night was silent and all was heard were snores and mumbles made by sleep-talking group members. Digger slept by himself on the edge of the burrow, curled up warmly. His drowsy eyes kept themselves shut and his light, easy breathing made the entire night peaceful and relaxing.

By morning, Digger was last to wake to a frenzy of hard workers and groomers. Digger eventually got up and instantly started to dig out the sand that had slid down during the night. Mother's pups were resting, still suckling her milk. Grace had lacked in her duties and sat at the entrance, looking into the horizon. She was a little day dreamer, Grace was. Her warm blue eyes glittered every time she felt dreamy or had a great sensation spread over her.

Digger had marched up to Grace and started to groom her, leaving his first job. They were very close brother and sister, since they were the only ones of their litter. Both were around a year old and were the youngest juveniles in the group. Eventually, mother, father and the entire family joined in, except for the rogue sister, Ginger. She liked to be a rogue and played heaps and heaps, sometimes a little too much.

By the time grooming had finished, the group set out for foraging where Digger got his hands on a giant scorpion. Grace was toying around with him and stole the prize meal and ran away to eat it, laughing. Ginger walked on by the side, snatching Digger's food as well. "Hey, come on guys! Stop it," Digger complained, jumping at his skink he caught. Ginger and Grace laughed.

Digger pouted and bulldozed through the sand, grabbing a beetle and scoffing it down. He then snapped up baby scorpions one by one and got the hiccups from eating too fast. "Did mother ever tell you not to eat your food too fast," Ginger giggled. Digger was annoyed.

By midday the sun had climbed high in the sky and the heat soon became too intense so the family settled down for a nap. A sentry remained. Grace shuffled her snout into the sand, groaning with tiredness. Mother and father slept near each other.

Grace tried to sleep out her head ache she got. Suddenly, she turned her head to see Digger still digging. Ginger lay near Grace who watched her brother in a daze. "He is crazy. Digger, you're crazy!" Grace shouted, hurting her head.

Digger dug a giant hole, nearly big enough for a burrow entrance and settled inside there, exhausted. The sentry started to lose concentration and flipped off the log he stood on. He got up and stood under the burning sun, looking around for predators. Suddenly, a jackal wondered by, plotting along the burning sand. The sentry followed with his eye as the jackal walked along, searching for food.

Jackals were known to eat many meerkats and it had unwillingly been heading towards Digger and his sleeping family.

so what do you think? a little cliffhanger. i'll try to get the next chapter asap. bye!


	2. Chapter 2

This is continuing from chapter 1 where we left Digger and his family facing a jackal

This is continuing from chapter 1 where we left Digger and his family facing a jackal. The tragedy begins and Digger's little heart is shattered.

Chapter 2: The jackal

The sentry by now was sending out his loudest alarm call and the rest of the group woke up. From the sound of the chirp, they knew a jackal was around. Digger zoomed out of the hole he dug and joined his family, who stared evilly at the approaching predator. The jackal knew that the meerkats had seen her, so she trotted off to her pups. The group all started to calm down, with mother counting the group, making sure no one was missing. Father scent marked the area and lay down once more.

Mother counted frantically but counted everyone except for…Ginger. Ginger watched in fascination as the jackal mother kneeled down to her pups and they hungrily suckled milk. Ginger crept closer and closer to the flat plains where the jackal family rested. Curiosity had gotten the better of her and Ginger soon found herself in a small burrow right next to the jackal. Only until then did she start to get uncomfortable.

Eventually the jackal pups finished suckling and headed into their small burrow, where Ginger was. They crawled into a different entrance so Ginger hadn't been spotted yet. The jackal mother soon fell to the ground and fell asleep, just metres away from the frightened meerkat.

Digger and Grace both watched helplessly as Ginger stared at the jackals below ground, sleeping and then to the mother above ground, sleeping. Ginger was trapped and no one could help her, or else they could become the jackal's next meal.

Ginger ducked her head below ground, making the group not been able to see her. Mother started to stress out. She wanted to shout to her desperate daughter but if she did, she may wake the jackal. Ginger reappeared above ground and stared at her family with desperate eyes. "We've got to help her," Digger protested, leaning forward and about to run. "No Digger, you can't!" Grace held him back.

Ginger by now was so anxious and scared; she had no clue what to do. She stared underground and above ground countless times until she sent out a deafening chirp of help. The mother jackal woke up, her heart pounding as though she had just heard a gunshot. Ginger saw what she had done and ducked below ground, hoping that the mother jackal hadn't seen her. But it was too late. The jackal babies had woken up too, enough to drive Ginger out of the burrow and into daylight. She ran at top speed, tail flying in the air. The jackal thrashed after her, gaining speed twice as fast. Ginger's little legs could not carry her anymore and until finally, the mother jackal scooped her up in her jaws and bit her hard. Blood poured from the mouth. Digger panted frantically, praying, hoping that his sister was still alive. The jackal pups suddenly started to chirp of hunger and the mother jackal dropped Ginger to the ground and walked away.

Only until the jackal was out of sight did Digger race down ahead of the family to his sister. She laid there, a huge, deep cut on her head and half her stomach torn open. Her right ear was torn right off but she still breathed, which gave Digger the sign that she was alive, but in a lot of pain. Grace was next to crowd around Ginger, followed by mother and father and the rest of the group. "Ginger," Mother pleaded, leaning down, covering herself in the blood.

"Mother," Ginger choked out, too weak to talk. "Ginger, you're going to be alright," Digger sobbed, resting near his sister. Mother curled with her daughter, ignoring the blood she got covered in. Grace and Digger were pulled away from the mother and daughter. "All we can do now is hope," Father sighed, walking with the rest of the group.

The sentry still kept a lookout and soon spotted the jackal once more. He chirped the alarm like before. "We have to keep moving," Father shouted, not noticing mother whisper gently into Ginger's left ear words of sadness. Ginger nodded weakly and with the strength gained by her mother, she limped off slowly out of sight from the family.

Digger and Grace both knew not to follow. Ginger was dead and the family had no other choice but to move on without her.

On their way home, Digger looked up into the setting sky of violet and pink. Soft clouds swam through the colour sky like wind and birds of all kinds flew into the sun. No one talked; they didn't even cough or whisper. Mother had dry tear stains down her cheeks, along with the blood that drenched her fur half an hour ago. Father was walking ahead, head down and crying slightly. Ginger's closet brothers and sisters, her littermates, had shared one another's sorrow and cried the same tears.

Digger had no motivation anymore, not even to dig. Grace walked slowly next to him. They stared at each other and looked at the ground. Grace quickly took a look at Digger, who hung his head in shame.

The birds tweeted loudly and soon the sky turned to a bright red-orange colour. "Blood had been split today," Digger finally said, staring over a few hundred metres to happy gazelles, prancing around. "Face it Digger. Blood spills everyday," Grace sighed in a depressive tone. "I know. I wish Ginger wouldn't of made that mistake."

There was no time for jokes or laughter, even though Grace did want to cheer Digger up. "Hey. Well curiosity did kill the 'kat," Grace thought, but didn't say. The glint in her eye faded into darkness and tears. The entire group were depressed and nothing could cheer them up.

So, very sad right? And that's only the beginning. I won't give away too much but if you have seen the meerkat saga, please don't give it away. Poor Digger. Poor Ginger and poor family. Things are already starting to go downhill for them. Remember, this is based on a true story, so I just though I'd remind you to make it even more sad. I love writing this story so you may see the next chapter up by the next few days. See you!


End file.
